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UNESCO Juba set to scale up literacy in the South Sudan national Police Service
Motivated by its desire to build and promote peace in South Sudan, and cognizant of the role the police play in maintaining law and order, and how literacy helps the police to be effective in the performance of their duties, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has set up a literacy program for improving literacy in the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS).
Working in partnership with the Directorate of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Interior, 91Â鶹¹ú²ú¾«Æ·×ÔÅÄ facilitated the training of 15 police personnel and 15 Alternative Education Systems (AES) teachers in the delivery (pedagogy) of functional literacy lessons to members of the police force. The training for the facilitators is taking place at Juba Regency Hotel from 25-29 January 2016. At the end of the training, there will be a launch ceremony, attended by the Inspector General of the South Sudan National Police Service, General Makur Marol Aduot, and the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST). Once they finish their training, and the literacy classes for the police are launched, the 30 facilitators will conduct literacy classes targeting about 450 police personnel. Initially, this program will target members of the police force working at the Police HQs at Buluk.
After six months of learning literacy and numeracy skills, the beneficiaries of this program should be able to express themselves orally and in writing in basic English. UNESCO aims to equip them to acquire at least A2 level of English language proficiency, which can enable them to read and have better understanding of the legal framework with which they work, which include the national constitution, human rights instruments, the Penal Code, the Police Service Act (2009) and the Code of Criminal Procedures Act (2008) among others.
This program is run as a pilot project. Its expected benefits range from contributing to scaling up literacy in the SSNPS to building a model of partnership which could be replicated in future programs aimed at building a literate police force for South Sudan.
Considering the low literacy rates among the members of the SSNPS, a situation which the Minister of Interior regards as one of the challenges in the Police service, UNESCO strongly urges its partners to scale up literacy in South Sudan and to prioritise the SSNPS. UNESCO would also like to remind the public that formal classrooms are not the only way to be literate, as any one literate person can teach one or more illiterate persons, and by doing so, we can quickly bring about visible change in the rate of literacy in South Sudan, including that for the SSNPS.
For further inquiries, please contact: Awol Endris, Phd
Education Programme Specialist
UNESCO Juba Office
South Suda
Tel : +211 920001102
